


in the crates of a record shop

by onlykaspbrakk



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: 80s and 90s, Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28637877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlykaspbrakk/pseuds/onlykaspbrakk
Summary: Johnny and Daniel become friends, than lovers. (but only after Johnny opens a record store)
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	in the crates of a record shop

**Author's Note:**

> fucked with canon just a bit in this, nothing too big. NOT beta read. 
> 
> this is shorter than i originally wanted it to be but i think it works with this fic. i'm trying out a new style (can you even call it that??) with this so let me know what you think about it, also as always kudos and comments are much appreciated!!
> 
> 1985- daniels pov  
> 1995- johnny’s pov

Despite it being summer, Daniel was spending an awful lot of time inside. He didn’t have a reason to go outside other than to visit Mr. Miyagi, but of course, the one time he does he happens to run into none other than Johnny Lawrence. Like it was fate or something. 

So he acted all friendly like, because he didn’t really have a reason not to. 

“How’ve you been, Johnny?” 

“Oh, I’ve been good, busy working. What about you?”

“Where have you been working? I’ve been doing the same with Mr. Miyagi, we have a store,” Daniel hated small talk, especially with someone like Johnny. Not that it was the kind of thing where they used to be friends and now they aren’t. Not like that at all. Just weird to be asking someone who used to kick your ass what they’ve been up to. Not that he thought Johnny was gonna try and beat him up he took Johnny’s ‘You’re all right, LaRusso,’ as a truce and it seemed like that’s how Johnny meant it to begin with considering he was still here talking to him and not fighting. 

“Hey, why don’t we go out for lunch? I just started my break and-”

Johnny seemed nervous, and Daniel couldn’t help but feel bad. Johnny Lawrence getting nervous seemed to be just about the most impossible thing in the world but here Daniel was, watching it happen. 

“Sure, Johnny, I’ll go to lunch with you.” 

“Okay awesome, there’s this really good diner just around the corner we could walk?”

So that’s what they did, it was awkward. They didn’t really talk on the way, but Daniel didn’t really know what he would say anyway. The restaurant was really close which didn’t give Daniel much time to regret his decision. 

The second he walked into the diner, he could smell the food frying. He didn’t even realize how hungry he was until now. 

“Smells good, right?” Johnny looked over at him and smirked and Daniel was immediately sent back to when he stepped into the Cobra Kai dojo for the first time. Johnny didn’t give him a chance to respond before he was leading him over to a booth and tossing him the menu. 

“So,” Daniel spoke, drawing out the word slightly, “You never answered the question about work, what have you been doing?”

Johnny didn’t look up from the menu, “Been working with Bobby and his dad. He has a construction company.”

“Are you still living at home? Shouldn’t you have your parents money?” Daniel knew he was prying, but he was curious. Sue him. 

Johnny let out a bitter laugh, “Like I’d stay there a day longer than I had too. No I got the hell out of there the second I graduated highschool. Been living with Bobby since May.”

It suddenly hit Daniel that it had only been a few months since graduation, but Johnny seemed like a whole different person, “Oh, shit I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked.” 

Johnny shrugged noncommittally, “You didn’t know, sucks but what can you do?”

Before Daniel had a chance to reply, the waiter came over to take their order, both boys getting a burger, fries, and milkshake. Daniel getting strawberry and Johnny getting chocolate. He was grateful that they were selling the ice cream, despite Daniel having lived here for a year he hasn’t quite gotten adjusted to the heat. July was the worst of it, Daniel certainly didn’t envy Johnny for working outside all the time. 

“You still doing any karate?”

“Yeah, been training with Mr. Miyagi. I’m not competing though. What about you?”

“No, haven’t done anything since quitting Cobra Kai,” Johnny shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of Cobra Kai. Daniel got it. He didn’t get it, get it, he wasn’t the one who was almost killed in front of everyone, but he understood why Johnny would be upset.

“I’m sorry about what happened with your Sensei.”

“It’s okay, I should have seen it coming really,” Johnny shrugged, but Daniel could tell he was still upset about it, it wasn’t that long ago he couldn’t have had time to really process it all. 

“Well, if you ever feel like training again, I’m sure Mr. Miyagi would let you come train with us. I could use a sparring partner.”

Johnny smiled at him, a real one this time, “I’ll hold you to that, LaRusso.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way. You know where to find me.” 

And just like that, the mood shifted from awkward and uncomfortable to old friends messing around with each other. Daniel thinks he could be friends with Johnny, it would be almost easy.

They sit and eat their burgers and drink their shakes, having easy conservation. It was weird how fast they slipped into this comfortable area just moments after having sat down, but eventually they had to go back to work. Daniel found himself not wanting to, instead wanting to stay and catch up for hours even though he doubted enough had happened in the span of two months to warrant that. 

“I’m paying,” Johnny said, putting the cash down on the table. 

“I can pay for myself.” 

“I want to pay for you, I can afford it and I take it you aren’t suddenly rich.”

Daniel sighed, “Fine. I’ll pay you back.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll see you later, LaRusso.”

“See ya, man.”

Daniel had wanted to tell Mr. Miyagi about it, but he was in Okinawa. Daniel had wanted to go with him, but Mr. Miyagi said he had to stay and run the shop and train. So that would have to wait until he got back.

****

Johnny was true to his word.

He showed up one Saturday evening while Daniel was watching TV.

“Where’s your sensei?”

“He’s in Okinawa. It’s just us today.” 

Johnny shrugged, “Cool place.” 

“It is, isn’t it.” 

They ended up sparring for hours, until Daniel was too tired to stand. Johnny left and Daniel headed to bed. It was good, not as awkward as Daniel had expected it to be which was a good sign. 

Over the next few months they hung out almost everyday, not even just training but also going to the movies or out to eat. 

Daniel couldn’t ask for anything better. 

And if Daniel was falling for his eyes just a little, who could blame him? (He’d already done the freakout years ago back in Jersey. He met a boy with freckles who kissed him, knocking all pieces off the monopoly board). 

Of course, Daniel could never tell Johnny this. Johnny was like the straightest guy he knew, talking about girls all the time. He almost expected to get his teeth knocked in for even thinking it about Johnny. 

So they carried on with just friends, until about November. Daniel went to hang out with Johnny and Johnny smelled more like alcohol than any person ever should, wearing days old clothes. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Visiting the Queen of England, she not here today?” 

“Fuck off.”

“I will when you tell me what’s wrong.” 

Johnny threw the bottle across the room, the broken glass sparkled in the light. It would almost be pretty if Daniel didn’t think Johnny was aiming at him. 

“Just get out.” 

Daniel left. After that he didn’t get another call from Johnny, not that he tried to call either, but it still hurt. 

That was the end of their friendship, alcohol and broken glass. 

Daniel wished he could say he expected more, but it really went the only way it could have gone. 

****

Johnny was just about to give up, he didn’t feel like carefully packaging boxes anymore. Logically, he knew he had to be done, he finally was moving his small music store into a bigger building. Not only was the building bigger, but it was also closer to people which would hopefully give him more business than he was getting before. 

Not that he was complaining about how much business he got, he was pretty happy with what he had, he had a few loyal customers, stopping in once a week, mostly teenagers. They normally reminded him of himself as a teen. Never going anywhere without a pair of headphones, and at risk of sounding like a sap, he liked giving them the same kind of escape he had as a kid. After Cobra Kai, that was really all he did. Listen to new music, old music, whatever he could get his hands on. 

Johnny really needed to get back to packing. He decided to move onto his office type room, which was filled with the documents he needed to be running this business, a fold-out couch, and some clothes. The music he had to be careful with, because if it broke he’d have to replace it and that would cost him money he didn’t have, so paper it was. 

He had a good thing going with this, yeah he was part-time living in his shop and part-time sleeping on one of his friend’s' couches, but it wasn’t so bad. Not bad at all. 

Once he went to his office, he started with the personal stuff, figuring he’d know how much work he had left to do if he got all of his shit out of it first. He managed to get most of his stuff into his car before he got distracted, which he was pretty proud of. 

There was a shoebox, some overpriced shoes he probably didn’t even have anymore. Johnny didn’t even know he owned a shoebox or had any idea what could be in it, so he looked. 

On the top of the pile, it was pictures of him and the guys, them before prom, them after Johnny won his first All Valley but as he got deeper the pictures changed, him and Ali at homecoming and prom and at the country club, but the last one. That was the one that Johnny was really interested in, the one that sent chills up his arms. Him and LaRusso. LaRusso was looking at Johnny, laughing. And Johnny was laughing right back, looking at Daniel like he was in love or something. 

Johnny could say he hadn’t thought about LaRusso in years, but that would just make him a liar, he saw him everywhere. In a pair of brown eyes he meets in a bar, in the dumb little tree in the store window, but they weren’t him. 

Johnny dreamed about him sometimes. But that wasn’t right either. Caricatures dressed up as portraits. Johnny wasn’t too sure what it meant, they had been good friends but Johnny had to go and screw that up too. Just like everything else in his life.

Since Johnny had already put his couch into the moving truck he rented, he went to go stay with Bobby. 

“Hey man, you okay?” Bobby asked right as Johnny opened the door. Trust his oldest friend to be able to read him like a book when he wasn’t even able to read himself. 

“I’m good, just tired. Moving shit all day does that to you.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. He tried not to think about the fact that he was going to be doing it all again tomorrow. 

“Alright, but you know you can talk to me right? About anything.” 

Johnny did know that, there wasn’t anything he could say to Bobby that would make him think less of him, he was good like that, but Johnny didn’t think he could get the words out without choking on them. 

So Johnny just nodded, Bobby looked at him and then headed to the kitchen. Johnny didn’t think he was going to come back but he tossed him a beer before sitting next to him on the couch, “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you alone, did you? Why don’t I order a pizza and you can pick out a movie?” 

Bobby probably had the biggest collection of VHS tapes Johnny had ever seen, any kind of movie you wanted to see, he had it. Johnny ended up picking Iron Eagle. Sure, he’s seen that movie a hundred times by now but it was exactly what he needed. Something familiar. 

“Pizza will be here in 15 minutes, did you pick a movie?” 

“Yeah, what kind of pizza you get?”

“Meat lovers, still your favorite right?” 

It was. What did Johnny do to deserve Bobby Brown as his best friend. 

****

A few weeks later, Johnny was fully moved into his new shop, the music was all in alphabetical order, his files were stored away in a cabinet, and his couch was back to its rightful spot in his office. This place was at least twice as big as the place before. Johnny was proud of what he had accomplished in just the few years he’d been open. 

Really he owed all that to his friends, if they hadn’t stepped in he would probably still be drinking himself sick everyday and begging his mom for some of Sid’s money only to repeat the cycle again and again until he was either dead or in prison. 

He had officially reopened last week and business had been pretty good, way better than it used to be, and he was sure it would be even better when a popular artist released new music. 

Johnny was sitting in his office working on some paperwork, boring shit but it had to be done, when the bell signalling someone had come into his shop rang. Johnny gave himself a few more minutes before heading out into the main room. He couldn’t afford to have people stealing stuff. 

When he walked out he saw someone in a blue tank and camo jeans, which was honestly the least flattering outfit anyone could be wearing anywhere, but who was Johnny to judge? 

“Hey man, do you have any Madonna?” 

Johnny shook his head slightly, “Yeah, of course I have- LaRusso?” 

“Johnny?” 

Johnny could not believe this, here Daniel LaRusso was standing in his store, asking for Madonna. Most of the time when he thought he saw LaRusso it was just Johnny’s mind playing tricks on him, but here he was. In the flesh. 

“You like Madonna?” 

“What? No, it’s for my girlfriend, her birthday’s comin’ up.” Girlfriend. For some reason that Johnny didn’t have time to think about, it hurt slightly. 

“Any particular album?”

“Just whatever you got, man. I’m desperate. I completely forgot it was her birthday and it’s tomorrow. She’s gonna be so pissed if I show up empty handed.” 

“Ya know, that happened to me once, got dumped for it.” Johnny looked at him, knowing he already knew the story. 

“You really aren’t helping.” 

“Who said I was trying to help?” Even though it’s been 10 years, LaRusso was here and it was just like it was yesterday and they were flipping through albums in Daniel’s room except Johnny is 27 and not 17 and he’s here in his own store instead of a bedroom. 

“You think you’re funny, Lawrence? Just help me find the album.”

Johnny knew exactly where they were and he had a sneaking suspicion that Daniel did too, but they were having fun messing around with each other, it was a slow day and Johnny didn’t have to worry about other customers. 

“Hey, Johnny? What time do you close today? I’m gonna buy you a drink.” 

“What, you wanna be my sugar daddy?” 

“You wish, just paying you back for when you bought my milkshakes.” 

Johnny had forgotten about that, but he wasn’t going to turn down a free drink. He had mostly quit drinking, but he figured since it wasn’t coming from his pocket it was fine. 

“Alright, see you at six.”

“It’s a date.”  
****

Daniel was true to his word, showing up at exactly six to pick him up. 

“Nice car, man.” It was a nice car, he was driving a new Mercedes. 

Daniel shrugged, “I’ve been doing good for myself.”

“I’d say, this is a real expensive car. What do you do?” 

“I’m a car salesman, manager.”

“I bet you’re really good at it, you never shut up, I bet someone would buy a car just to get you to shut up.” 

“Whatever works, man.” 

Johnny couldn’t tell if this was weird or not, Daniel driving him around in his expensive car and buying him a drink bickering with him. Reminded Johnny of being 17 and throwing half hearted insults at Daniel as they watched a movie, Daniel throwing popcorn at him whenever he said something really stupid. 

When Daniel LaRusso meant drinks, he really meant he was going to take you to Applebee’s and get a cocktail and an appetizer tray. Johnny wasn’t turning down the food, he was starving, but this wasn’t exactly what he expected when he was going out for drinks. 

Upon being questioned about it, LaRusso just shrugged and said, “It’s still alcohol, take what you can get.” 

“So, you mentioned a girlfriend earlier. What’s she like?” Johnny really didn’t care or want to know, but it was something to talk about so it worked. 

“It’s kinda new, but we’ve been friends for awhile, just scared to fuck it up, ya know?” Johnny knew. He was the world champion of fucking it up. 

“So, what’s this chick like? Why do you like her?”

“Oh, well, she’s super smart and so good at her job, honestly she deserves my position more than I do-”

“Hold on a second, LaRusso, are you saying this girl works with you?” 

“Yeah? What’s wrong with that?” 

“Okay, not saying this is going to happen, but what happens if you break up?”

“Oh shit,” LaRusso’s eyes went wide, “What does happen? What am I gonna do?” 

“Hope you don’t break up?” Johnny brought the beer bottle to his lips, taking a sip. He felt like he needed to be drunk to have this conversation but he wasn’t going to buy his own drink, so he made do with what he had. 

“Dude, I’m gonna have to step up my game! Were the best sales team in the company, I could lose my job!” 

“Now you’re just overreacting. You won’t lose your job, dipshit. It might just be a little awkward for awhile. You can get over that, right? Besides, if you like her as much as you say you do, it shouldn’t be a problem 

Daniel sighed, “You’re right, thanks Johnny.”

Johnny tried to ignore the unfamiliar feeling in his chest, “No problem, Danielle.” 

The rest of the evening went smoothly, Johnny sticking to his promise of only having one beer, but it was good. Nice even. 

Daniel stuck to his word and paid the bill. 

LaRusso drove him back to his store, but before letting Johnny out of the car, he grabbed Johnny’s hand and pulled a pen out of his pocket, writing his number on Johnny's hand, “You better call me, Lawrence.”

“We’ll see, good luck with your girl tomorrow.” 

Johnny watched Daniel drive away. Maybe he would call him (and by maybe, he means yes absolutely. In a heartbeat. But Johnny always was a liar.) 

****  
One week later, Johnny did call.

“How’d that thing go with your girl?” 

“She’s not my girl anymore. We broke up.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. Wanna come over and talk about it?” 

“Yeah that sounds nice. Thanks John.” 

Johnny told him to head to the store, he had been able to rent an apartment right above it so he wouldn’t have to sleep on an uncomfortable couch anymore, Bobby’s or his own. 

It didn’t take long for LaRusso to show up, and Johnny led him up the stairs, “Listen, I don’t have any beer, but if you want we can go buy some? Or we can just order pizza. Your choice.”

“Pizza is fine with me.”

Johnny gave Daniel a quick tour of the house before ordering the pizza, Daniel already looked like he was comfortable on the couch when Johnny got back. 

“So, what happened?”

“We just decided we would be better off as friends, it’s whatever I guess. Probably for the better.”

“Doesn’t mean it sucks less.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Daniel didn’t seem like he really wanted to talk more, so Johnny let the subject drop and instead turned on some sitcom on the TV.

They watched it as they ate, some of it was really funny. By the end they nearly finished a whole pizza. Johnny eventually changed the channel to a movie playing, Johnny wasn’t really sure what movie it was or what it was about, but LaRusso seemed entertained so it was good enough for him. 

God, when did he start thinking all this fluffy stuff about LaRusso? (Probably when he was a teenager, even before they were friends and long after. There wasn’t a start/stop point of when, it just always was. Johnny was never good at expressing his feelings.)

Johnny pushed it aside for now, thinking about it with LaRusso right there would do no good, probably would make it worse honestly. 

It was so weird how they haven’t seen each other in a decade now, but here they are and it’s like less than a day has gone by. Johnny still felt the same as he did then and LaRusso was still all bark with some bite. 

Johnny woke up the next day with his back hurting like crazy and a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. Warm breath ghosting his breath. Him and Daniel must have fallen asleep the night before. Daniel seemed like he was gonna tip off the edge of the couch if Johnny got up, so he didn’t. He just laid there and listened to Daniel’s even breathing.

Eventually, LaRusso did wake up, Johnny braced an arm against his back to stop him from falling off the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table. 

“Why didn't you wake me up?” Neither boy had made an effort to move. 

“You seemed tired.”

“Well, thanks,” Finally Daniel moved his arms and got up, “I should get home, thanks for everything, Johnny.”

“No problem. Daniel.” 

Daniel smiled at him before opening the door and leaving. 

Johnny was in love with that smile. 

Holy shit. 

Johnny was in love with Daniel. 

****

For the rest of that day and the rest of the whole next day Johnny had to sit with the knowledge that he was in love with Daniel LaRusso and probably had been since he met him in 1984.

It probably was never about Ali.

God, did anyone else figure this out before he did? It was so obvious now that he thought about it. Why did it take him so long to realize?

The very next thing Johnny did was call Bobby. 

“I’m in love with Daniel LaRusso.”

“I know.” 

“Yeah, thought you did. What do I do?”

“I can’t help you with this one. You have to figure this all out yourself.”

Johnny sighed and hung up the phone. Deep down he knew he was right. 

Johnny thought long and hard about what he was gonna do, and decided he needed to make a move. Was LaRusso even into guys? Shit. Johnny had to find that out too. 

God, this was all too much at once. Johnny wasn’t even sure if he had a chance and here he was thinking about touching Daniel’s hair. 

This explained the picture. Johnny was looking at Daniel like he was in love because he was in love with him. 

****  
A few weeks later he got a call from Daniel. 

“Hey man,could you come pick me up? I think my nose is broken.” 

“What? Are you okay?” 

“Listen, I’ll explain later. Long story, just pick me up at the gas station by your place.” 

Johnny didn’t even waste time to change, he hopped in the car and headed that way, finding him shortly after he started looking. 

Daniel looked like shit. His face was all bloody and his lip was busted. Johnny opened the car door for him. 

“I really hope for your sake the other guy looks worse.” 

Daniel nodded before leaning back into the seat, “These guys fucking with someones car, so I went up to them like ‘Hey! What the hell are you doing!’ and they were all like ‘Leave us alone!’ and they started it.” 

“God, you can’t leave-”

“Well enough alone, I know,” Daniel laughed but it looked like it hurt him. 

The rest of the drive was silent, Johnny ended up having to mostly carry Daniel up the stairs and sat him on the sink. Johnny grabbed the first aid kid and started washing the blood off his face. 

Daniel hissed as Johnny applied the cotton ball to his skin, “This is just like that day when we were sparring and I kicked you a little too hard. Thought I broke your nose with how much blood was there.”

“I didn’t know you remembered that.”

“I remember everything about you.” 

Johnny couldn’t help himself, Johnny leaned in and kissed him. Daniel kissed right back.

His mouth tasted like blood but Johnny guessed it was a metaphor for something he didn’t feel like thinking too much about. 

The blood made it feel like home.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumbr [here](https://v4mpirelest4t.tumblr.com/)


End file.
